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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28339758">The Case of the Poisoned Chocolate Box</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Small_Hobbit/pseuds/Small_Hobbit'>Small_Hobbit</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Yet Another Twelve Days of Christmas [12]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 19:22:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,344</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28339758</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Small_Hobbit/pseuds/Small_Hobbit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Mrs Hudson expects Sherlock Holmes to assist in a case where Mrs Turner's niece is under suspicion.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Sherlock Holmes &amp; John Watson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Yet Another Twelve Days of Christmas [12]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2068605</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Case of the Poisoned Chocolate Box</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/okapi/gifts">okapi</a>.</li>



    </ul></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What are you going to do about that?” demanded Mrs Hudson one morning, slamming a newspaper down on the table and pointing to one of the articles.</p><p>Holmes glanced at it and said, “Ah, the poisoned chocolates.”</p><p>“Exactly.”  Mrs Hudson clearly had no intention of letting Holmes say any more.  “It says the police have arrested the maid.  Now she’s one of Mrs Turner’s nieces, so you need to clear her.”</p><p>“I suppose there is no possible chance she could have been involved,” I began tentatively.</p><p>“Certainly not.  Whoever poisoned the chocolates showed a degree of ingenuity, and while Mrs Turner says her niece is a nice girl, she’s none too bright.  Yes, the silly creature had a thing for her master, but it was nothing serious.”  Mrs Hudson opened the door and with a parting shot of, “And besides which, how’s a girl like that supposed to afford expensive chocolates like those?” she left.</p><p>Holmes and I looked at each other, and once we were sure the coast was clear, we both laughed.</p><p>“It looks like you have a new case,” I said.  “I’ve seen something about it in the papers, but what I don’t understand is how no-one else became ill.”</p><p>“It seems she had kept the box to herself.  From what I can gather, these were her favourite chocolates.  She was always receiving gifts from her admirers, and generally she would share them with the family, or if they were considered of lesser value they might be given to the servants, but this particular box was the one she was reluctant to share.”</p><p>“A fact which, presumably, the poisoner knew.  There was no indication of whom the box had come from, I suppose.”</p><p>“No.  It had a card which said simply ‘From an admirer’.  And whether they had come from this admirer, or whether the card had been taken from another present no-one knows.”</p><p>“What will you do?”</p><p>Holmes gave another bark of laughter.  “I shall go and make enquiries.  I fear if I do not, Mrs Hudson’s expression will burn our dinner on sight.”</p><p>I agreed.  Shortly afterwards Holmes departed, while I turned to my correspondence.</p><p>Holmes had been back for a while, and we had had lunch when Annie burst in and banged a box of chocolates on the table.</p><p>“Is this a joke?” she stormed.</p><p>I looked extremely surprised, but Holmes simply said, “No, not at all.”</p><p>“Are you responsible?” she demanded.</p><p>“Yes, it was an experiment.”</p><p>Annie glared at him, with an expression which must have been learned from Mrs Hudson.  If I had thought of mentioning Annie’s strange behaviour to our landlady, that look would have told me not to bother, she had clearly been sent up by that esteemed lady.</p><p>“I wanted to see how someone would react when they received a box of chocolates with the label ‘from an admirer’,” he explained.  “That wasn’t quite the reaction I expected.”</p><p>“Mrs Hudson has always told me to be wary of unexpected presents.  There could be almost anything inside the box,” Annie replied.</p><p>I felt she had a point.</p><p>“But you do have an admirer,” Holmes said.</p><p>“In which case he would have written ‘from your admirer’.  And I would have recognised the handwriting.”</p><p>I looked over at Holmes to see how he would respond to this.</p><p>He nodded.  “I suppose that is the case.  But just imagine you knew the box of chocolates was from Inspector Hopkins.  How would you react?”</p><p>“I’d be very cross that he’d spent so much money on an expensive box of chocolates, when he could have bought me something much cheaper, like a sugar mouse, and saved the rest.  We are saving, you know.”</p><p>“You are?” I blurted out.</p><p>They both turned to look at me as if I’d just emerged from a long hibernation.</p><p>Then Holmes looked back at Annie and said, “Well, suppose you had received the chocolates and knew they came from me.  How would you react then?”</p><p>Annie thought very briefly and then said, “I would consult with Mrs Hudson.”</p><p>“And if Mrs Hudson said it was a lovely present, what would you do then?  Would you eat them?”</p><p>“I’m not sure.”</p><p>Holmes was clearly growing exasperated.  “Well, just suppose the chocolates came from Dr Watson and you knew they were from the doctor.  Would you eat them then?”</p><p>Annie looked at me and smiled.  “Yes.  I’d share a few with Mrs Hudson, and then save them so I could share a few with Stanley.”</p><p>“You wouldn’t sit and eat the whole box?”</p><p>“No, they’d make me sick.”</p><p>“Thank you.  Now Watson, here is a box of chocolates, which I assure you I have done nothing with other than purchase them.  Please give them to Annie so she can enjoy them in safety.”</p><p>I accepted the box with a smile and passed it over to Annie.  Then I stood up and said, “I’ll come downstairs with you, Annie, and explain it all to Mrs Hudson.”</p><p>I returned shortly afterwards to see Holmes sitting in his armchair, apparently deep in thought.  However, he looked up as I took my seat and said, “I presume you had a chocolate or two as well, just to prove how safe they were.”</p><p>“Of course.  And it would have been a shame not to try them.  Although Annie’s right, they are sickly, and I can’t imagine anyone eating a whole box at one time, even if they were used to them.”</p><p>“Precisely.  Now you have a lady who has eaten a whole box of chocolates and has died of poisoning.  Ergo, you conclude the chocolates were poisoned.  You cannot test this hypothesis because there are no chocolates left, but who will challenge this fact?”</p><p>“Indeed.”</p><p>“But we have established that it is extremely unlikely the lady would eat the whole box at one go.  So we have to ask ourselves whether by some chance the poison was in the final chocolates only, or whether the poison was in something else entirely.”</p><p>“Such as what?”</p><p>“I have established that it was the custom of the lady to have a cup of milky coffee in the morning.  There was no mention of the cup being in the room when the body was found, so it is highly likely it had been removed and washed up without anyone noticing.”</p><p>“Have you any idea who might have done it?  Presumably that would still include Mrs Turner’s niece.”</p><p>“At that time the niece should have been helping the housekeeper with the linen.  I think we would have heard from the housekeeper if the girl had not been with her.  No, my suspicions are with the stepson, who was not on good terms with his stepmother.  He would have had no trouble in sitting with her, poisoning her coffee, and encouraging her to eat her chocolates.  He might even have been permitted to have one himself.”</p><p>“Then, once the lady is dead, the stepson removes the cup, together with the remaining chocolates.  Surely he ran a risk of being seen when he left?” I said.</p><p>“The lady’s sitting room was at the far end of the corridor.  All he had to do was listen to make sure no-one was nearby, and he could slip out.”</p><p>I was still not convinced.  “But wouldn’t he be a suspect anyway?”</p><p>“Yes, but it would be very hard to prove he had poisoned the chocolates, which would have required considerable preparation time.  However, I believe I can prove he poisoned the coffee, the work of seconds once he had procured the poison.”</p><p>***</p><p>Holmes was as good as his word.  With a little judicious questioning it was soon established that the stepson had taken the coffee to his stepmother that day, and that everyone had assumed someone else had brought the cup back to the kitchen.  Mrs Turner’s niece was released from custody and resumed her job.  Annie and Mrs Hudson finished the chocolates between them, Stanley Hopkins having declined the offer.</p><p>And Annie and Hopkins are getting married in the summer.</p><p> </p>
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